Sunny day draws Portland, Aloha gardeners hoping to catch up after extended wet and rainy season

View full sizeMatt Buxton/The OregonianNovi Sandlin, 7, pulls a cart loaded with grape, raspberry and hops plants that his dad, James Sandlin, picked out for their garden. The family, along with hundreds of other gardeners, was drawn to the Portland Nursery by Saturday's sunny weather.

A warm Saturday made for one busy day far for Portland Nursery in Southeast Portland, as a steady stream of people filled wagons with potted plants eager to take them home to their gardens.

It was a scene that played out throughout the area as gardeners, excited to catch up after an extended cold, wet season, headed out to nurseries and plant sales for new additions.

"Compared to last year, (this season's) been horrible," said Suzy Hancock, the nursery's general manager. "This is where we normally are a couple weeks ago. Everyone is so starved to put something flowering in the ground, it's been a hard season."

"Today's a gift," she said. "We're just hoping that the weather will continue cooperating."

She said it is a good time to be planting hardy cold-weather plants such as lettuce, kale, onions, potatoes or broccoli, but that gardeners should wait on warm-weather plants such as tomatoes, peppers or cucumbers.

"It's a balancing act," she said. "but we're more interested in people being successful."

The proceeds from the plants, donated by club members, go to gardening-related grants and scholarships.

At both locations, flowers were particularly popular with shoppers as were vegetables and berries.

And under a warm, bright midday sun, James and Aubri Sandlin walked through the many aisles of plants at Portland Nursery, with their three children, Novi, Faze and Miya, in tow, looking for food-producing plants.

"Generally we don't buy any produce when the garden's going," James Sandlin said while examining a raspberry plant.

He said that the late start though, has made it more difficult. The family picked out some grape, hops and raspberry plants for the above-ground planters at their home in Northeast Portland. They're keeping the fragile plants, such as tomatoes, inside until warmer weather.

For new gardeners, Hancock suggested that the nursery's website, portlandnursery.com has many planting tips.